Student Loan Debt Is Now as Big as the U.S. Junk Bond Market

Re:Student Loan Debt Is Now as Big as the U.S. Junk Bond Market by monkseal on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @12:06PM (#15853166)

What feels so deceptive about the panic around student debt is the devil is the details. I think if you drill in median student loan debt for an UNDERGRADUATE is like $12k. That's less than a car loan and we don't have a panic about that.

Most of the debt is for graduate, PHDs, law and MDs or undergrads who attend expensive private universities. These people should make more money from that investment.

My point is overall average student loan debt or the overall outstanding amount owed is horrible way to look at it and talk about it. It creates an unnecessary panic.

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Re:Student Loan Debt Is Now as Big as the U.S. Junk Bond Market by lazypenguin on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @12:21PM (#15853338)

It's also deceptive to downplay the situation by only looking at the debt in students' names. Many parents take out loans on behalf of their children. E.g. Parent Plus Loans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLUS_Loan

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Re:Student Loan Debt Is Now as Big as the U.S. Junk Bond Market by kpwagner on Tuesday December 05, 2017 @02:05PM (#15854662)

Well over half of my student loan balance is in parent loans. I pay my parents monthly to pay for the loan payment. My younger two siblings are oblivious to what kind of debt they have. Now, my parents are a few years away from retirement--at least they hope--and they will be burdened with paying my siblings student loan debt on a fixed income.

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